NPP race: Don’t let money influence your choice – Hackman Owusu-Agyemang to delegates

Chairman of the Council of Elders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang has urged delegates who will be voting to elect Presidential and parliamentary candidates should not allow money to influence their choice of candidate.

According to Hon. Owusu-Agyemang, who is also a former Member of Parliament for New Juabeng North, some delegates are normally influenced by money which affects the quality of elected leaders.

Speaking on OTEC FM breakfast show on Monday, June 5, 2023, the former Minister of Water, Works and Housing, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs advised delegates of NPP to focus on the competencies and capabilities of candidates.

“We are in a moment almost every Ghanaian is complaining of hardships but the 2024 election is also critical to the NPP. The delegates should note this because chances are that some candidates might influence their votes with money. They should rather focus on the capabilities and messages of those who can execute the job,” he told the programme’s host Captain Koda.

The NPP opened nominations on 26th May and the window for filing is expected to close on Saturday 24 June. All aspirants who picked presidential forms paid a non-refundable nomination fee of GHC50,000.

All aspirants are expected to file completed documents on or before Saturday 24th June 2023 and pay a filing fee of GHC300,000.

Aspirants
As of today, Thursday 1 June, Boakye Agyarko, the former energy minister, Francis Addai Nimoh, the former MP for Mampong in the Ashanti Region, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, the former general secretary of the NPP, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, an economist and former minister for regional co-operation, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a former minister of food and agriculture, have picked forms to contest the presidential primaries.

The other people who have also picked forms are the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, an energy expert Kojo Poku, Alan Kyerematen the former minister of trade and industry, Kennedy Agyapong, the sitting MP for Assin Central in the Central Region and Joe Ghartey, the former minister of railways development and sitting Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan in the Western Region.

Super delegates
At the close of nominations on Saturday 24th June 2023, if all the ten aspirants who picked nomination forms go ahead to file, the NPP will hold a super delegates’ conference to trim the number of aspirants to five as required by the party’s constitution.

But the NPP Chairperson of the Council of Elders indicated that “If you are a candidate, ask yourself if you are capable of doing the job. At this moment, the candidates must tell delegates what they can do for the Party. Candidates should be able to convince delegates that they have the competencies and capabilities to manage the Ghanaian economy and also have answers to questions that might emerge going into the 2024 election”.